UN worker and her son go missing in Afghanistan days after hotel attack: report

Security personnel stand guard as black smoke rises from the Intercontinental Hotel after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. A UN worker, her son and a driver went missing in the city early Monday. (Rahmat Gul/AP)

A woman working for the United Nations in Afghanistan has gone missing along with her son and driver, according to local reports.

A spokesman for the United Nations Population Fund told the Daily News that he could only "confirm an incident took place involving UN staff."

"It is standard United Nations policy not to comment on such incidents, as doing so may jeopardize the safety and security of staff," he said.

The worker's disappearance comes after a weekend attack targeted foreigners in the Afghan capital's Intercontinental Hotel, which killed at least 22 people including six Ukrainians, two Venezuelan pilots and a citizen of Kazakhstan.

However, Afghan officials have been known to downplay the number of casualties in attacks, and there are fears that the death toll could be higher from the violence that stretched for 12 hours from Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Taliban fighters claimed responsibility for the attack against "dozens" of "enemy occupiers," according to the terrorism monitoring SITE Intelligence Group.

A telecommunications conference was being held at the hotel, and Afghan victims included a telecoms official and the country's diplomat to the Pakistani city of Karachi.